Kirti- 9 yrs old"Shh..." Priya whispered, putting her fingers to her lips and asking me to be quiet as we tiptoed up the stairs. Stairs that didn't seem to end. Her family had one of the biggest houses in Palanpur. It was a small town; almost everyone knew each other. They were the Bhaskar family, they had all the money, and I was the girl with a single mother.My mom was an employee in Priya's family business. She had to juggle between two jobs to put food on our plates. Because of her hectic work hours, she stayed out for the majority of the day, sometimes until late at night, leaving me at Priya's place. Her parents were kind to me; they let me stay as long as I wanted. Priya's mom loved me like her own.Her parents wanted more kids, in fact they had been trying for ages. Their search was over in the form of an adoptive child. The boy we were sneaking up to see.Priya was excited to show me her older brother. The fourteen-year-old boy her parents had adopted was given one of the big rooms. Priya said they all had breakfast together this morning. His name was Zavi, and he was scary.Priya thought he was very weird. He hardly spoke during breakfast and ate his meal in the most well-mannered fashion, almost as if trained to do so. He spoke to her parents as if he was an adult. She said her parents were fascinated by his manners, getting all sparkly-eyed.We crouched low when we reached the landing and crawled towards Priya's brother's room. It was the first room on that floor, a few meters away, on the other side of the hallway, was Priya's room. I loved their house, it was beautiful. The walls of the long hallway were covered in paintings that looked like they belonged in the museum. We dropped down to our knees right beside Zavi's door. My knees started to hurt; the carpet did very little to cushion them against the hard floor. I grabbed Priya's skirt in fear she might run away, throwing me in the lion's den. The idea of seeing this mysterious boy didn't appeal to me as much anymore. My heart hammered inside my rib cage like a wild animal. I hadn't felt this nervous even before my recital last year."We should leave." I whimpered, pulling on Priya's skirt. She shushed me again, leaning down to peer into the room. We were two soldiers on the battlefield, trying to gauge the enemy. I didn't like this game anymore."I am scared," I repeated, terrified of her brother, who I had never seen before. My nine-year-old brain pictured him to be a mean boy who liked scaring kids. Priya's description of him wasn't helping.She peered further inside the room, holding onto the door frame with a death grip. My heart continued to thud with a maddening rhythm as I looked around, expecting someone to catch us in this act. We weren't doing anything wrong but it sure did feel like we were."Do you see him?" I whispered, shifting from one knee to another, ready to bolt any moment now.She turned around, about to say something, when a shadow fell on us. We felt him before we saw him, a looming figure standing before our crouching figures. My gaze followed the shadow, only to crash with the darkest brown eyes I had ever seen. I gasped, falling on my ass, mouth wide open and about to scream. Standing before us was Priya's brother. A tall teenage boy with inquisitive eyes looking down at us in annoyance. Now that I think of it, he did look like a prince of a foreign country. If not a prince then an angel for sure."What are you two doing here?" he asked, staring at us with a heavy frown etched onto his features. I shook my head frantically while pointing a finger at Priya. A silent blame on her, letting him know that it wasn't me, and rightfully so, it was Priya's glorified idea to sneak up on her new brother."What?" he snapped, and I flinched away. No he wasn't an angel anymore, the devil was more like it. Words failed me, and I gulped down the fear."We were just going to my room," Priya interjected, nudging me with her elbow and bringing me back to reality. I followed her as she walked further into the hallway to her room.I was about to enter Priya's bedroom when I heard a loud purr. For a second, I thought it was her brother, but when I turned back, I saw a big furry cat sitting by his side. I loved cats, I had one as a kid but it ran away while chasing after a squirrel.The cat by his side had the most beautiful, piercing eyes. He looked right at me, his head cocked to the side. If it wasn't for Zavi glaring holes into me, I would have walked upto the cat and pet him."When did you guys get a cat?" I asked, turning to Priya. It didn't seem to be of any of the cat-breeds I had ever seen before . The fur on his body had a silvery glow to it. It had a round face with big, almost intelligent, eyes. I gasped when I looked back to see Zavi's face contorted with anger. I couldn't understand his fury, I hardly even knew him. I rolled my eyes, a non-verbal defiance even though I was quite literally shitting my pants. I knew how mean bullies could be. I had first hand experience in that area. My schoolmates weren't merciful to me and the older kids were worse. If Zavi was anything like them, I should be running as far away from him as possible."What cat?" Priya asked as I closed the door hastily, trying to put a barrier between me and her brother."That one," I pointed in the general direction of her brother's room."He is not a cat, silly. He is my new brother," she said, pulling me towards her bed and making me sit on it."There was a cat," I said again, slowly losing the battle. It could be possible that they didn't know about his secret pet. But then, it was right there, in front of everyone's eyes. How could she not see? She could be bluffing; she liked to do that a lot."No Kirti, we don't have a cat." Priya folded her hands, staring at me challengingly.I stuck out my tongue, making a face at her. It was my only way to answer her when words failed. She did the same and the cat was forgotten as we engaged in a fight on who could make the uglier face.We were indulged in our competition when a knock sounded at Priya's door. She grunted in annoyance while I sat up, unable to move. I could almost sense the person on the other side of the door.Priya opened it to find her brother standing outside. I knew then that I was in trouble. I slid back on the bed as if he would come in and attack me."Bhai," Priya chirped, any trace of fear from earlier disappearing from her face . It seemed that I was the only one about to pee my pants. "The cat is here," Priya stifled a laugh. Zavi raised an eyebrow at the comment, his eyes darting to me in curiosity. I didn't understand her joke, the cat was indeed sitting by his leg staring daggers at me much like his owner."Can I talk to your friend alone?" He asked Priya, folding his arms in front of him like an angry school teacher. I didn't want to talk to him. Priya wouldn't agree to it, would she? She was my friend after all. But she abandoned me. The same way she did at school when the mean kids singled me out."It was her plan to sneak on you anyway," she shrugged, pushing me out of her room. I was positive, I was about to be killed by her new creepy brother. If I survived, I would quite literally never talk to her again.I followed him out towards the end of the hallway, trying to match his long strides. My small legs weren't of much help. I was half running and half walking trying to catch up.We stopped in front of his door. "Can you see him?" He pointed towards the cat sitting near the stairs licking its paw to its heart's content . A smile spread across my face. The cat might have a piercing stare but it was cute."Yes, of course," I exclaimed, scooting down to pet it. However, before I could do so, Zavi picked it up and stepped away, clutching it carefully in his arms."Keep your dirty hands away from Ashu." he snapped, making me flinch back. I tried to control the wobble of my lips. I wasn't going to cry because of this meanie.He walked into his room and settled down on the bed with the cat on his lap. He started to pet it, making me feel jealous. There was something different about his cat though. No one knew cats better than me. I was obsessed with them. I knew the names of every single breed of them."That is not a cat." I pointed out."No Einstein, it's not."If I wasn't a well-behaved girl, I would have kicked him in the balls. But my mom taught me to be a nice lady, so I was going to be just that."What is it then?""He is Ashu.""What breed is that?"Zavi shook his head, sighing in frustration as if he was fed up with my questions. It was not like I was dying to talk to him, but if he was raising a tiger cub in the house, I was going to tell Mrs Bhaskar. As exciting as having a tiger cub was, I knew it wasn't safe."Kimbal said Earth was filled with Dhurims but I didn't expect to see an offspring so soon." Zavi muttered more to himself than me."What?" I asked, frowning at his funny choice of words. I had no idea what he was talking about..I tried to tell Mrs Bhaskar about the tiger cub a few days later, but after a thorough search, she had no option but to shrug off my accusation of her new son when she did not find anything. Zavi had glared at me so hard while Bhaskar Aunty was looking through his room, I was amazed I had not melted down. I tried to show her the cub sitting right beside Zavi on the floor, but she looked at me like I was crazy.Long story short, Mom took me to a therapist with me crying all the way and trying to get her to believe me about Ashu. When I came back to the Bhaskar residence the next day with pills in my backpack to help me stop seeing tiger cubs, Zavi snatched the bottle and dumped it in the kitchen sink when no one was looking. He said I should stop trying to make people see Ashu, because no one could except us both. . I should have felt special, since I could see things invisible to normal humans, but instead I felt a little scared.I stopped after that. Zavi said I could see Ashu because I had Ashudhar's blood in my veins. Ashudhar was the place he was from. A world in another dimension, whatever that was. I was a Dhurim's daughter. I asked him what a Dhurim was but he didn't answer. I figured he must not like Dhurims and that was the reason he hated me.I never understood much of the things he told me but I understood his hatred. I understood that feeling of hurt every time he said something mean to me. The only reason I tolerated him was because of Ashu, the cat quickly became my best friend. Zavi didn't like my mingling with his cat and that's why I did it more, just to piss him off.